The Greeks made tremen­dous advancements in the fields of geomorphology, climatology and oceanography. Among the ancient Greek scholars Herodotus, Plato, Aristotle, Era­tosthenes is the chief ones.

Contributions of Greeks in the field of Physical Geography:

The Greeks made remarkable development in the field of physical geography. Greece was the land of great physical and topographical diversity, which provided an impetus to the growth and de­velopment of physical geography. Greece was the land of high mountains, perennial and seasonal riv­ers, limestone areas, and the land of occurrence of diverse phenomena like earthquakes, volcanoes and tides. These diversities made Greeks think in this field.

The work of the Greeks contain numerous references to mountains, delta-building, change of weather, winds, rains, earthquakes and their causes, volcanoes and the transformation in the topographic features. Aristotle explained the phenomena of expansion of land in the shallow seas and the formation of delta by the river Nile.

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The Greeks believed that all perennial rivers have their source in high mountain ranges. Plato explained how depletion of forests leads to depletion of soil fertility and turning of a fertile land into a barren topography. Plato considered man as an active agent who changes the face of the earth.

Greeks also studied about the oceans and seas and distinguished the varying properties of their coast­lines, salinity, waves, tides and winds.

Aristotle and Herodotus observed the phenomenon of tides in Red Sea. Aristotle even mentioned about tides in his book-Meteorvlogica, but the cause of tidal waves he attributed to the winds. It was Posidonius, who after careful observation, said that at new moon and full moon when the sun and the moon are in conjunction, the tides are the highest whereas at the first and the last quarter’s they are the lowest.

The Greeks also recognized four major winds of different properties and directions. These winds were called bores (north wind), eurus (east wind), notus (south wind), zephyrus (west wind).

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The Greeks divided the world into five climatic zones- torrid, two temperate and two frigid zones. They were familiar with the fact that Libya is the land which experiences high temperature. They believed that Libyans are black due to the high temperature. Aristotle believed that the parts near to equator (the Torrid Zone) and the parts away from the equator (the frigid zones) are uninhabitable.

Occurrences of frequent earthquakes in the moun­tain regions of Greece attracted the attention of Greek thinkers. Anaximender described earthquakes as fractures of crust of the earth, which were pro­duced by passing through a process of drying, after having previously been saturated with moisture. According to Aristotle, earthquakes and volcanoes are caused by winds (gases) which were confined beneath the surface of the earth and were trying to find a vent.

The Greeks also made careful observations of the volcanoes and associated volcanoes with earthquakes. The Greek scholars also recognized differences in flora and fauna of the different parts of the world.

Contributions of Greeks in the Field of Mathemati­cal Geography:

There were many Greek scholars who were engaged in determining the shape and size of the earth and distances and latitudes with the help of astronomical observations. Anaximander introduced an instrument called ‘gnomon’. With the help of gnomon he mea­sured the latitudes of important places and prepared the first map of world to scales. Thales and Anaximander are considered as the founders of math­ematical geography. Thales and Aristotle established the spherical shape of the earth. Eratosthenes calcu­lated the circumference of the earth as 250,000 sta­dia (25,000 miles). Herodotus, Anaximander, Hipparchus and Eratosthenes draw the parallels of latitudes also.